One of Nolan Bushnell's favorite diatribes is about the people he calls "jackals," those scrupulous copycats that, in his view, ripped off his ideas time and time again. Despite the fact that some accuse him of doing the same thing to Ralph Baer (especially Mr. Baer), it's hard not to sympathize with hard-working creators who see their profits annihilated by shameless clones and rip-offs. There's a nice example of it at Ars Technica, which documents a flagrant "The Blocks Cometh" knock-off (including art and name!) on the iPhone. According to the article, victims have few options other than to hire lawyers, which as well all know is well beyond the means of most indies.

I'm not sure what the remedy is here, though. The other extreme would be just as bad, with existing owners claiming that even the remotest derivative was a clone. What exactly is the line between a derivative and a clone, though?

Donnie (aka Soulgotha) has just posted a very detailed and accurate review of our book Vintage Games. Check it out, and while you're there, be sure to subscribe to this man's channel. I've never been disappointed by any of his videos. He does a range of topics, not just videogames, though all of them are entertaining and worth watching (I especially love his rants, comedies, and magic tricks).

Here's the latest Matt Chat episode, this time on the Tandy CoCo classic Dungeons of Daggorath. Enjoy, and let me know if you played this game back in the day. Love to hear more about its critical reception among Tandy CoCo owners.

I thought you guys might get a kick out of my students' latest YouTube video. These guys and gals are having such a blast in my English 403/503 class (Computers & English), and I'll be damned if they aren't making videos that are just as good if not better than most anything else on Youtube. Check it out, and please give them a comment or two if you like what you see.

YouTuber Ianwilson1978 just posted a "500 Subscriber Special" that shows off about a bazillion YouTube channels dedicated to gaming (most of them retrogaming). Considering how much work went into this video, it's no wonder that he was able to get so many subscribers! Just imagine how much you could learn about gaming just by watching a single video from each of the channels he shows in the video! I had no idea there were so many of these channels...This community is really growing fast!

I had originally posted this list on another thread, but decided it was worth its own post. Please let me know what you think! My guess is that following these tips would really be helpful for anyone considering uploading videos to YouTube or trying to join the community. Although I'm fairly new to YouTube myself, I was able to compile these tips by reading articles, talking to fellow tubers, and of course watching the results of such drama in many videos on the site.

Hi, folks. One of my friends at YouTube recently posted a video that I wanted to publicize because I agree with it so strongly. The idea is that there are some really great YouTube channels out there focused on retrogaming, but their audiences are ridiculously small given their quality. So, I've posted the original video here along with representative videos of all the guys n8great321 mentions plus a few of my personal favorites. Check them out and subscribe if you like what you see! Also, let us know about your favorite YouTube retrogaming channels.